While there have been some very informative and balanced articles on Covid -- the exceptional pieces by Ed Yong, Zeynep Tufekci and James Hamblin in The Atlantic stand out in this regard -- for the most part coverage of the pandemic by the mainstream media has suffered from the same systemic biases that distort so much of MSM reporting. The business imperative of capturing readers' attention is better served by tweets and articles that inflame rather than inform the general public.
In the case of Covid this systemic bias is particularly evident in the relentlessly negative daily coverage and commentary on cases and hospitalizations, public health measures, vaccine procurement and delivery, and life during and after Covid. It is a negativity that is not just inaccurate and unbalanced in many important respects, but is compounding the tragedy of the Covid pandemic with a mental health crisis of depression and despair, the costs of which may continue well after Covid is effectively gone.
There is, of course, valid reason for negativity in all things Covid. It has been a devastating disease taking and disrupting lives in so many ways. But context and balance is critical in understanding where we are and where we are going, something often lost in MSM reporting.
Take, for example, the coverage of the third wave of Covid cases here in British Columbia. As the number of cases grew at alarming rates in the late winter and early spring, the media seized on the potential for unmitigated exponential growth especially with the variants taking hold in the province. On April 1, when new cases in B.C. had risen to almost 1000 per day, Global News featured modelling results suggesting that new cases could double every 10-12 days -- implying new cases could rise to well over 2000 per day by mid-month. Daily case rates didn't in fact double in the first half of April. By mid month, they were still in the vicinity of 1000 per day. Nevertheless, on April 16, Global News again reported the potential for new cases doubling every two weeks, rising to over 2000 to 3000 per day by May -- which we now know hasn't happened and almost certainly won't.
The potential for exponential growth is clearly important to report. But so too is the fact that the exponential growth didn't take place. The circuit breaker measures implemented by public health, the public response and on-going vaccinations have clearly slowed and seemingly reversed the growth in cases. But the positive mitigation in the growth of cases didn't make the news. The media coverage stayed with the potential for exponential growth and failed to highlight and explore why that didn't occur.
The fundamentally different consequences of the third wave also escaped MSM attention. There has been an alarming increase in cases and hospitalizations in this third wave, exponential or not, putting pressure on hospital facilities and staff in major urban centres. But unlike the first two waves, there hasn't been anywhere near the same number of deaths. As shown in these graphs of Canada-wide cases and deaths, the pattern is dramatically different.
The number of cases in Canada now is as high or higher than it has been from the outset of the pandemic. The number of deaths, on the other hand, is less than one third what it was in the earlier waves . The consequences of the pandemic are still serious, but they are fundamentally different. With the vaccinations of the elderly and most vulnerable populations, the costs of Covid are arguably far less now than they were in the earlier waves. Pressure on hospitals can be addressed. Illness can be overcome. It was the high death rate in the early waves that was so catastrophic.
I'm not suggesting that the media shouldn't be reporting on the serious third wave of Covid infections. But at least in places like British Columbia that should be balanced by recognition of the success the targeted public health measures and vaccinations have had and hopefully will continue to have. And it should also recognize the near miracle of the vaccines that have been developed in such a short period of time and the amount we have already been able to access despite the globally limited supply.
These are difficult times. But we are so fortunate in British Columbia for the careful and thoughtful way the crisis has been managed -- not perfectly for sure, but exceptionally well by comparison to our neighbours to the south, most countries in Europe, and virtually all of Latin America. Critics in the media and elsewhere can be negative for their business, political or other reasons, but to fight the depression and despair that negativity brings on we need to appreciate that things are not as bad as some would suggest and certainly not as bad as they could have been. Despite what we constantly hear and read, the outlook is unexpectedly good.
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